Death in custody – G Veerasamy (Pandan Indah police station lock-up, 28 Nov 2003)

On 28 Nov 2003, over seven years ago, 52-year old security guard G Veerasamy died in police custody at the Pandan Indah police station.

According to his son, V Suresh, his father had been healthy when he had last seen him at the same police station on 24 Nov 2003, the day of his arrest.  V Suresh was informed that his father had died from stomach pains, but when identifying his father’s body at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, he reportedly saw injury marks on his father’s face.

An inquest into G Veerasamy’s death started on 13 Jul 2004 at the Ampang Magistrates Court.  According to a news report, a doctor from Kuala Lumpur Hospital testified that when G Veerasamy had been brought to her for treatment on the day of his arrest, he had a fractured nasal bone, laceration of the nose and bruises on his back.  Based on those wounds, the doctor believed he had been assaulted.  No further details on the progress or outcome of the inquest were available at the time of writing.

Every death in custody must be thoroughly and impartially investigated. G Veerasamy’s death must not be relegated to a mere statistic.

Based on the Royal Malaysia Police’s statistics, 85 persons died in police custody between 2003 and 2007 alone.

We express our heartfelt condolences to G Veerasamy’s family and friends on the recent anniversary of his death.